Posted on Friday 8th June 2012
Councillor Andrew Morgan and Danny O'Donovan from Renault Cardiff
Green Wheels for Rhondda Cynon Taf Council, as the Local Authority unveils its first electric van.
Rhondda Cynon Taf Council takes its carbon footprint seriously and is looking after the environment by becoming the first Council in Wales to add a 100% electric Renault Kangoo Z.E, award winning vehicle to its fleet.
The electric vehicle has been made even more affordable thanks to the government’s grant aid via the Plug In Van Grant| which saves 20% off list price.
One of the Renault Kangoo Z.E roles will be to travel around the County Borough to pick up and drop off school uniforms as part of the Council’s innovative Re-uniform scheme - Re-Uniform, allows parents to recycle their child’s old school uniform and purchase “like-new” recycled, washed, cleaned and “bobbled-off” uniforms at less than 60% of the normal cost.
The Council’s Streetcare offices, in Ty Glantaff, Treforest are fully equipped for the new arrival. By choosing to now use an electric van, the Council has a more sustainable mobility solution that will cut conventional fuel bills and help to lower overall running costs.
The new vehicle does not compromise on space or versatility and has an “econometer” so drivers are able to monitor their driving efficiency. It drives like any other automatic vehicle but is much quieter; in fact it is almost silent. It can be charged from a domestic 3 pin plug electric socket (full charge is about 6 hours) or via an “intelligent charging post” which can reduce charging time to minutes in some cases. The cost of a full recharge is less than £2.00 and will allow the vehicle to travel around 100 miles. That’s a whopping saving on fuel and road tax of £2295 and a massive 6 Tonne of carbon emissions for the Council!
Councillor Andrew Morgan, Cabinet member for Frontline Services, said:
“We made a commitment to residents to support the introduction of electric vehicles within the Councils Fleet and I am thefore delighted that we now have a Renault Kangoo Z.E. electric van (International Van of the Year Award 2012) as a part of our fleet which will continue to provide our services but in a new sustainable and efficient way.
This is most definitely a step in the right direction for achieving a cleaner, greener Rhondda Cynon Taf. We will be monitoring the benefits of the new vehicle with the view of further adding to and or replacing the existing fleet with sustainable transport in the near future.”
Danny O’Donovan, Business Centre Manager from Renault Cardiff said:
“We are delighted to be associated with Rhondda Cynon Taf Council and to supply the first Local Authority in Wales with Electric Vehicles with the aim of reducing carbon emissions and reduce their fleet running cost’s through sustainable power sources.
“Renault has invested over 4 Billion Euros in the Electric Vehicle Programme to date. With three models currently available: the Twizzy, Fluence and Kangoo ZE with the forth model Zoe due to be launched later this year, it will revolutionize how we purchase vehicles in the future.
“Renault has also made Electric Vehicles affordable through the Battery Lease Agreement and in conjunction with the Government Grant for ZE vehicles of 25% or up to £5000 on cars and 20% or up to £8000 on vans make Renault ZE a real alternative to combustion engine vehicles.
“Infrastructure investment is also gathering pace with more charging points planned throughout the UK. This involves City Centres, Car Parks, Super Markets and Motorway Service Stations, although the majority of recharging will take place at home or work.”
For further information call 01443 425001